City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

New Chappy! Enjoy!
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Chapter 15: Theives and Beggars pt. 1

Some visions are false, some visions are true, and some visions should never be but are...
-Ancient Gallaeni saying


Ceddon was about to lunge for the Sphere when Asalia brushed past him. "No, you cannot fight him. You must first distract him." Putting both hands on the wall she pushed a section out and slipped out into the Throne Room. Ceddon and Callix shared a quick 'oh shit' glance. But something made Ceddon hesitate, then put his eye back up to the peephole.

Asalia walked calmly out into the room until she was next to Layla. "Are you alright m'lady? When you left me I had the hardest time finding you again. I could quite remember..." Ceddon was amazed when Layla caught onto the girls play, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Hush, hush." Ceddon's attention switched back to how Socian was taking the sudden apperence of the young woman...he looked like someone had hit him over the head with a hammer. He was completely enchanted by her, near to the point of drooling. Ceddon looked back at Callix again and the kession shrugged. Without another moment's hesitation Ceddon walked out of the hidden doorway.

Socian was still staring at Asalia, completely enchanted. Ceddon shook his head, amazed. It couldn't be this easy...it shouldn't be this easy. But it was that easy, the first easy thing they'd done so far. He just reached out and plucked the Sphere from the top of Socian's staff. Unfortunately the next moment he was screaming in agoney as tendrils of darkness ripped at him.

Socian whipped around to launch an attack at Ceddon just in time to have one of Layla's arrows sprout from his shoulder. "Damn, I missed!" Ceddon chuckled, his laugh becoming a harsh cough as his empty stomach tried to heave up bile. He brought Varathax up in time to parry a blow from Socian's staff, sparks of magic flying in every direction.

"THEIF! Give it back!" Ceddon managed to get a shoulder into Socian's gut, throwing the mage backward and into Asalia who promptly brought her staff down with a thunk on the mage's head. He swayed a bit before collapsing to his knees, then the floor. Ceddon watched from his pain haze as Layla walked over and knocked an arrow.

"This is for our mother." The arrow plunged into the mage's body. She knocked another. "This is for my world." It too thudded into his body. She pulled out a third, this one with a whisp of white binding the fletching to the shaft. "And this is for Myala." The last shaft buried itself deep in his skull.

Asalia, meanwhile, dropped her staff and rushed over to where Ceddon stood. He stared up at her through glazed eyes and she tried to pillow his head with the cleaner parts of the mage's robes. "I'm okay." His spine cracked and forced a muted half scream past his lips. "Okay, scratch that, I'll be okay." He smiled. "That was some nice work back there Asalia, making him have eyes only for you."

She blushed. "How'd you figure it out." Another tendril pried it's way past his armor and sank into his skin. He'd have dropped the damn Sphere but it was almost connected to him now. His magic was doing it's best to fight off the thing's advances but it was saving his soul at the cost of his flesh.

Still he managed to smile and say through gritted teeth. "The most powerful man on this world didn't look to see where you'd come from, didn't secure his most valuble possession, and didn't notice as a man in armor with a large sword walked up behind him. You had to be doing something...Plus I could sense your magic."

Another several tendrils ripped into him, causing him to convulse. "Layla, help!" Instantly he was looking up into Layla's worried face, her long white hair spilling around her silvery skin. The whorls of darker pewter rimmed her eyes, making her seem very striking. He felt her power tapping at the edges of his sheilds, just another seeking entrance.

"Let me in." He shook his head.

"I can't. If I open my sheilds for you, it'll get in too." He looked first at Asalia then at Layla. "There's not a whole lot either of you can do except wait." Another spasm wracked him. "And try to heal the damage when it's all over." Callix's muzzle nudged his head.

"Well then we'll wait. I'm sure nothing horrible is going to happen to us now. Not with the Master of the Castle dead." Indeed, as far as Ceddon could see they were alone in this place.

"Yeah, we can go scout around and make sure. C'mon Callix." Ceddon tried to sit up, just to be sure it was the real Asalia talking. Yet it seemed that the princess had finally learned something, or maybe she was just finally coming into her own. Standing there in her dark blue armor, staff held confidantly, she had a tough look on her face...and the sense to take the kession in case of trouble.

"Becareful." Was all Layla said. Ceddon tried to tell them good luck but choaked on his own pain instead. Dammit! Why couldn't he be strong when it counted. He lay there for a few more moments, eyes screwed shut, every tendon in his body stretched to the breaking point. Varathax's hilt was biting into the palm of his hand, his grip becoming slick with blood.

He felt her fingers gently pry it away from him then slide it home into the sheath on his back, grunting slightly with effort. "Wow, this thing weighs a ton. How the hells do you weild this piece of metal."

Ceddon chuckled, then coughed, then chuckled again. "Practice. Why do you think I've got arms like a blacksmith?"

"But...it wasn't your body until recently. How did you practice?"

"In spirit, with Fallon, and my Grandfather. I look the same as I do on the spirit plane. This former flesh of Fallon's was kind enough to rearrange for me. Since then I've been putting the skills I learned there to good work here. Same concept as meditating, except that I've had no hands on time until now." He was wracked by another coughing fit.

"So, you've never been mortal until now?" He managed a nod.

"When I helped you fight the Cabodise I'd just gained my flesh for the first time not minutes before." He looked at her and her puzzled look.

"So, you've never..." Suddenly he realized where this was going. This was not the time...or the place...or...hell why did this shit happen to him? He was going to make Fallon pay someday...
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That's the first bit...

[Lilith]

Alright Rai. You have my most astute attention...

[The Meaning Of Fear]

When'll the next 3 quarters of this chappy be up?

Not that I'm following this story with great interest or anything, you understand. ;)

What does Layla mean by "So, you've never..."?

[Kalanna Rai]

In answer to when, tomorrow. Won't have time till then.

As for the comment Layla made...Well you did want to know who the father was didn't you? ;)

[Kalanna Rai]

More of the same...
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Chapter Fifteen: Theives and Beggars pt. 2

Night had fallen on the Castle atop the Ebon Spire. It was the second such night they'd spent, which meant their three days were damn near over as far as Layla could figure. The upside was that they were staying in comfortable quarters and could actually track the days via sunlight. During her explorations of the Castle with Callix, Asalia had fond these wonderful rooms for them all to stay in.

With Callix patrolling the hallway outside their doors, they couldn't have been safer. Ceddon even seemed closer to recovery...he could at least let go of the Sphere now, even if he couldn't be far from it. She looked around the room again, the rich opulence her brother had locked away and never used. What had possessed him to do this? To have these rooms he knew nobody would ever use? "What's wrong?" Layla looked to where Asalia was standing by the window.

"Nothing, nothing at all. I was just thinking." The younger girl nodded and yawned wide. Layla smiled. "Why don't you go to bed. I'll watch Ceddon tonight." Asalia shot her a grateful look before climbing into bed. Layla waited for the girl to drift off before she left the room and crossed the hallway to Ceddon's. Giving Callix a nod she slipped in, shutting the door behind her.

Ceddon looked up from his bed. Layla wanted to say his complexion was pale...but this was Ceddon. He was whiter than an albino blindfish to begin with. Still he didn't look good, a little weak and rough around the edges...She smiled at him. "Hey."

"Great, another nursemaid. I told Asalia last night all I want is for the two of you to leave me alone. I'm fine, honest. See look." He picked up the Sphere and tossed it across the room where it landed with a thump on the cusioned seat of a chair. He looked at her as if expecting her to turn around and walk out. And she wasn't about to do that.

She sat down on the bed next to him, smiling slightly as he sat up. "Who said anything about a nursemaid?" With that she proceeded to do something that, days before, she'd have slapped the face of the person who suggested it.

Admittedly she was taking advantage of him just a bit, it wasn't like he could spare much resistance for her...if he even wanted to. And he didn't seem very resistant, or hesitant. Maybe this was exactly what he'd been thinking of since he'd become mortal...and maybe she was just telling herself that to make herself feel better about it.

Still...she was enjoying herself emensely. She didn't even stop to think about the consequences until the deed was done. It was only then, as icey fingers crawled up her spine, that she noticed the Sphere pulsing gently from it's spot on the chair. She sat up quickly, pulling the covers up around herself to preseve modesty. Then, realizing that the only other person in the room had seen everything she had to offer already, she dropped the covers in favor of reaching out for it.

"Don't!" Ceddon's shout had her pulling her hand back quickly as he came forward to take hold of it. He looked back at her, his wings folding around to block everything she wanted to see from view. He looked first at the Sphere, then back at Layla, then back to the Sphere. "I wouldn't want you to go through this thing's idea of an ownership screening..."

"Right...sorry. I wasn't thinking." He raised an eyebrow and she was mortified to find a dark pewter flush spreading across her silvery skin. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of saying she had better things on her mind. Still she watched as the pulse faded from the Sphere. "So what do you think it ment?"

Ceddon shrugged. "I don't know...did you ever see it do something like that with Socian?"

"Let me think." She tapped a finger against her lips then proceeded to chew her finger nail, glancing toward him from time to time to see if he was watching. With his hair all messed up like that, flowing every which way around his head like a liquid halo, she couldn't tell. With a slight shake of her head she brought her mind back to the task at hand, snapping her fingers as a memory suddenly surfaced.

"Yes once. It pulsed like that when he and the Dark merged...Ceddon..." As she watched with a cold fear growing in her heart he summoned a tiny flicker of his power. It's normally brilliant azure color had dimmed a hair...and it's light now cast twisting shadows instead of remaining pure and steady.

"Impossible...I never let it in! I didn't relax my sheilds for an instant except..." He turned and looked at her and she realized what the except was.

"Except just now...with me...oh Ceddon." He sat down heavily and let go of the Sphere...it floated just above the top of his left hand, never straying more than a few inches. Layla bit her lip. "This is bad Ceddon."

He sighed. "Don't I know it. Now I know why Fallon brushed all those court ladies off. Maybe he's got the right of it...having no heart certainly cuts down on incidents like this." He gestured to the Sphere which glimmered happily.

"Wait...you're not acting like Socian was. You're not ranting about power, or talking about plans to enslave the world. The moment he finished tapping into that thing he went off on a mad rampage, destroying everything he could touch. You don't seem to be having any dark urges at all."

They looked at each other breifly and he chuckled, his eyes wandering from her face. "Oh I don't know about that..." With a sigh he ran his hands through his hair. "But we're waisting time. While we've been here, having all this fun, Fallon's deadline has been slipping away. We need to get moving..."

She watched him stand with a worried expression on her face. "But Ceddon, in your condition..."

"I don't have a condition any more...at least not physically...aside from being slightly tired and that's your fault." She was angery with him until she realized he was kidding, then she gave a haughty sniff and went to gather up her discarded clothing.

"I certainly didn't notice you 'conserving your strength' any." They both chuckled a bit before silence fell. Layla dressed swiftly wondering if her vision would now come true, if what the Bridge had shown her was a dark certainty...not just a worrisome shadow. She glanced at Ceddon again, noting the angery red marks where the Sphere had pried at his flesh, and tried to match them to the marks he'd born in that reflection. They didn't quite match, there weren't enough of them.

And, for some reason, she just couldn't envison him suddenly turning evil on them. "Done? If you keep acting like this Callix isn't going to shut up about how right he was and I don't want to hear that for the rest of my life." She chuckled a bit, realizing she'd been staring at him, and tried to refocus her mind on the task at hand. It wasn't easy though, not when she'd just found the one thing she'd been missing in her life.

Someone she could count on, depend on, knew would be there for her. She'd finally fallen in love....
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Slightly predictable at this point but hey...you still read it.

[Kalanna Rai]

You've been wondering what he was up to, I knew it. So here's the one, the only...Fallon.
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Chapter 15: Theives and Beggars pt 3

He sat in the middle of the non-world, gazing across the vast flat expanse of nothingness with empty eyes. He'd have been board if such an emotion could have existed within him, but since it did not he was not. He simply watched his Ward grow weaker by the hour as the Gods raged within it, all of them turning hate-filled eyes on him. He stared back, watching and waiting.

He idly wondered if Asalia had taken his message to heart during her brief visit with him. It certainly didn't seem so with as long as they were taking. He knew they'd reached the Sphere a day and a half ago, yet now they'd slowed their pace.

He kept track of the four he'd left behind in a rather strange manner. He was still connected to Ceddon's flesh. Having been his flesh for so long it was having trouble letting go and every so often he would feel what Ceddon felt. Purely physical in nature it still allowed him to keep close track.

He knew when Ceddon had crossed the Bridge. The icey chill that had crept into Ceddon's bones, chilled Fallon's own. But he ignored it, it was only cold after all. When Ceddon had felt the Sleeper, and pulled all that power into his strike, Fallon's own magic had respoded in part. He had felt, though not suffered, the same injuries that felled Ceddon, felt the healing Layla had given him aided by Asaila's magic.

They were beginning to work together better as he had planned. They would never be able to defend the spell if they remained shattered fragments. He ran through the spell he would cast in his mind once again, mentally putting everything where it needed to be, rehersing gestures that needed no rehersing...he couldn't have forgotten them if he had wanted.

However, what he felt from Ceddon now wasn't what he had expected. "I give you a job and you fool around on me. Ceddon..Ceddon...Ceddon..." He felt the small foothold the sphere gained on Ceddon's soul. "I suppose you'll want me to take care of that won't you? Still...now that you've got the sphere..." For the first time since casting his Ward, Fallon moved.

Drawing his blade in a liquid motion he stopped a moment to listen to it's song. "You havn't sang in quite a while my friend," he tested it's edge and watched a bead of black blood pool on the edge momentarily before the blade drew it in. Then, in a sudden movement that implied the swiftness of a swallow in flight, he moved in in a complex pattern, bringing it to a halt with the tip just above the ground at his feet.

Almost at once violet power crackled through the air surrounding him, yet not a hair on his head stirred. In the pen of their Ward the Gods' grew silent, their auras fading away to almost nothing as the watched this Aruora in purple paint the sky of the non-world. It colesced into a single glowing circle that began to whirl faster and faster, until it formed a pillar of amythest light.

The white ground cracked, violet lines marking the breaks in it's flat surface. Yet Fallon simply stood there, sword in hand, looking like he might have on a summer day in the practice field. He glanced over at the gods, power lurking deep within his amythest eyes, flecks of darker purple seeming almost to glow with it. A shudder went up from these beings of eldrich power and they pressed back from the barrier. Whatever Fallon could be summoning to this plane of empty existance, it couldn't be worse that what they saw locked in those eyes.

Suddenly, with a rumble that shook the non-world from horizon to endless horizon, the pillar vanished leaving a very startled Ceddon, Layla, Asalia, and Callix standing there. Slowly Fallon resheathed his sword, eyes flicking over the group, lingering for the merest sliver of a heartbeat on each. Negligently he reached out and took the Sphere from where it floated by Ceddon's hand. "You're just in time..."

"NO!" Vathos surged against the Ward and fractures appeared in it. Fallon looked up from the depths of the Sphere and stared directly at the High God.

"You will watch. And you will be silent." With that Fallon set the Sphere upon the air, watching as it floated where he had placed it. Reaching up, he sliced open his palms on the tips of his feathers, marring the golden bands on the tips of the primaries. Before a single drop could fall upon the ground he pressed them tight agains the sides of the sphere.

While the Gods and the weary travelers looked on they watched in amazement as the other orbs came from their hiding places, attracted to this spot in nothingness by a force they could not deny. Fallon concentrated, strands of his ebony hair drifting past his face as a slight wind picked up, then died as the Wind Sphere merged with that already in his hands. Finally he released his hold and stepped back, leaving a glowing orb of swirling colors in all hues of the rainbow behind.

"Now, Faelyon, you must repay your debt." With that he drew his blade and launched himself upward with a pound of his massive wings, the Orb following him in his upward flight. As they watched, hands reaching futily to stop the inevitable, the Gods heaved against the bounds of their prison one last time...and broke free.

But they were too late and were only unwilling witnesses to the specticle as Fallon brought his blade upwards, reversed his grip, and plunged it deep into himself. Power like nothing they'd seen exploded from that single point of contact, power that dropped all of them, mortal, immortal, and god alike to their knees. And on Fallon's face, the first trace of emotion, true emotion. Fallon was smiling a perfect smile, a smile that looked as if he were about to scream in sorrow.

Then he withdrew the blade, the nine runes blazing in white hot fire as it screamed a dirge across the sky, a song of want and need and distruction forced to remain bound to the will of one man...Fallon. It screamed of vengance and terror, pain and suffering, of love and hope, of loss and joy...

No blood flowed from Fallon's wound, instead another Sphere emerged. It bobbed slightly, as if unsure in it's flight, before it too joined with the others in the Orb. The Orb flaired brilliantly before it began to fall, plummeting downward as if to destruction, before Fallon stretched out a hand and caught it. Slowly, as gracelessly as he'd ever moved, he returned to the ground.

The point of his blade dug in and he leaned upon it, exhausted. He set the orb upon the air and there it floated, spinning lazily. Slowly it's revolutions began to pick up speed while Fallon nearly gasped for breath. He didn't look at them, Ceddon and Layla and Asalia who stood so close. His long black hair fell between his visage and theirs. "Now you see why I brought you. Now you see why I said I could deal with the Gods' but not their minions..."

"Fallon..." Asalia's voice was soft and full of worry as she started toward him...he held up a hand and an invisible wall sprang between them.

"Guard the Orb Asalia...guard it in Darith's stead." With that he forced himself upright and strode out across the flat expanse that seperated them from the Gods. His stride was graceful and even, his shoulders square all signs of exhaustion well hidden...
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One last part to come...

[Kalanna Rai]

And we're finally there folks!
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Chapter Fifteen: Theives and Beggars pt 4

Asalia watched Fallon walk away from her and reached out a hand as if to call him back, she could see how tired he was. As tired as he had been when he'd protected them from the transfer to UnderDark. But she pulled her hand back, called by the Orb. Next to her Layla and Ceddon talked in hushed tones and she glanced at them. "We must get ready, Ceddon draw your blade and mount your steed. Layla...knock your arrows." She leaned her forehead against her staff, tears splashing down along it's length. "Darith...oh let this be enough..."

Mists suddenly boiled around her, eddying away from the aura of the Orb. The feeling of sorrow wrapped her heart in iorn chains as a grim figure walked free of them, armor clacking against it's skeletel form. Neverstar bore his master clear of grey fogs, a pair steeds following behind, still obscured. "Asalia..." Darith's voice was little more than a moan from beyond the grave but it brought joy enough to her heart to break sorrow's grip.

"Darith...you've come!" He nodded, empty eye sockets filled with a green mist the color his eyes had once been. He waved his hand and a second steed stepped forward...what remained of Stormwing. The noble stallion's hide was rent open where sharp rock shards had broke through it, patches of flesh missing where tumbling stones had torn it away. But he whuffed in Asalia's hair just the same and she threw her arms around his neck before quickly mounting. "Thank you brother..."

"Layla..." At his ghastly croak the former priestess turned to look at what remained of the du' Maldon prince. "Another has come with me...to aid you one last time." Forth from the swirling mists stepped a kession, her white form flickering atop her crystalline bones like an illusion. Shadows clung to her tail and mane, gathered in her wings.

"Myala." Layla's voice broke and her eyes filled with tears as she walked to where the mare's shade waited for her mistress one last time. Asalia felt more tears tracking her own face as the priestess communed with the spirit of her long dead companion. When she mounted at last, Layla's eyes were hard and firece and she looked as deadly as the Breath itself. Glancing toward Darith a last time, Asalia noted that his Winddaggers had returned, blackened and charred as his bones.

"Are we ready?" Her voice was slight but she put steel behind it. She'd no longer be the weakest, she knew what she had to do, she could feel her own power surging within her. She'd used that power, used it to heal, to enchant and hypnotize, to curse both herself and Darith for all those years, to bring Layla and Ceddon together...she could do this.

Nods came from her companions as Darith moved infront of her. The mists swirled in and out of his form, a lance of bone and stone settled easily in a holder along Neverstar's side. His grinning skull couldn't change expression but Asalia got the sense that he had on his commander's expression, that stern but gentle face that belied his deep concentration. "We're going to put up a triangular defense, with three of us holding the key points and one of us circling the Orb itself to deal with anything that gets past the other three."

They all nodded to Darith's suggestion and Asalia smiled, trust her brother to take command. His green mist eyes flicked toward her before boring into Ceddon. "Ceddon...you're our strongest spellcaster. You've also got a deadly broadsword and know how to use it. I want you to hold this side...and give no quarter." With a nod Ceddon kneed Callix over to the indicated side and drew a line on the ground with Varathax, a line of blue fire.

"I dare them to cross my line." His voice was harsh and cold, remniscent of Fallon. Asalia briefly glanced in Fallon's direction, but the black figure never slowed his pace, he just continued on toward where the Gods stood, like pillars of incandescent fire.

"Layla, you're our sharpshooter, and your mount the swiftest of them all. I want you to take point, kill as many as you can before they reach us, then take out what you can on the ground but keep an eye on the skies. We'll rely on you to take any fliers down." Layla nodded, her white hair shimmering as Myala moved into position.

She shot two arrows into the ground equal in distance from each other. "Those who pass between my arrows shall not breath again when next the sun rises." She glanced toward Asalia and nodded even though Asalia saw no warmth in her eyes. Come whatever may, Layla would fall before she allowed anything to pass her.

Then Darith was before her, his skeletal hand reaching out to rest atop hers. Asalia didn't feel the chill bone of his touch, only the warm, calloused hand it had once been. She smiled into his eye sockets, glad to have him here even if he was still bound to pay his Toll. "Asalia...you must stay with the Orb. Your magic is best used defensively and the staff will respond as you ask it. Let none touch the orb, none..." She nodded to him.

"Don't worry brother. I'm the strong sister." His boney fingertips traced along her jaw and she could almost see his sad smile, the pride in his eyes.

"I know." He trotted past her and, with his daggers, gouged out a piece of the ground, mists swirling quickly into a barrier. "For all those who died under the tyranny of these Gods, I shall exact my revenge upon those who still serve those Gods."

Asalia looked to Darith a last time. "Darith...I never told Fallon your message." He looked back at her.

"The message wasn't intended so much for him as it was for you. It did what it was supposed to, it made you realize that you needed to protect yourself." For a moment brother and sister shared perfect understanding.

"Darith...if I die..."

"I'll guide your soul back with me. I won't leave you alone again Asalia, Fallon as my witness." And far away, nearly in the faces of the Gods, a black wing flicked. A sign Darith's promise had been witnessed.

Asalia turned and kneed Stormwing in a circle around the Orb, gazing at it. Within it's depths she thought she saw something...a person curled as if in the womb. Suddenly she was struck by a vision...
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What does Asalia see?
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The End has begun...what will happen? Only you know...

[Lilith]

Fayelon's ressurection perhaps?

[dinranwen]

Asalia sees the Child. The perfect Child whom the gods killed. The one Fallon had been sworn to protect but failed. I say Asalia sees that child, since his body has been rejoined about to be reborn. [To clarify, the god-child Fallon spoke of in his earlier stories]

That would be a near perfect ending.

[The Meaning Of Fear]

Nice chapter, Rai, but I spotted a few typing mistakes. Read it through yourself and you'll see them easily enough. :D

Hmmm, I F5 Lilith and Din, but it could also be the baby of Layla and Ceddon. Who knows, maybe their baby is destined for great things... Fallon did use to be in Ceddon's body, after all.

[Kalanna Rai]

The poll is finally up! Vote!